The Black Sea maritime war is entering a new phase in the summer of 2026. Ukraine’s drone campaign against Russian shipping and logistical infrastructure in the Sea of Azov is beginning to disrupt Moscow’s own commercial system, forcing Russia to restrict navigation through the Kerch Strait, limit grain intake at Novorossiysk and Taman, reroute exports towards the Baltic and coordinate the Ministry of Transport with the Ministry of Defence to protect commercial vessels. Without conventional naval superiority, Kyiv is imposing systemic costs on an adversary’s trade, reversing the direction of maritime pressure that Russia had exerted on Ukrainian ports since 2022. For Romania, the reshaping of commercial routes increases the strategic value of Constanța and the Danube corridor, but also raises exposure, as recent incidents involving a Russian GERAN-2 drone in Galați and a Ukrainian Sargan-3000 naval drone in the Port of Constanța have shown.